Rubrics

Rubric Overview and Creation | Articles & Resources | Examples

Rubric Overview and Creation

Rubrics help students recognize learning goals and guide them in reaching for those goals. Particularly useful in student-directed teaching approaches, like inquiry-based learning, rubrics can be used to assess content mastery, skill development, or even attitude toward a topic.

Developing a rubric involves clearly identifying and articulating specific outcomes of learning and structuring those criteria in an easy-to-use format that serves as a reference tool in guiding learning and an assessment tool for evaluating success. In inquiry-based instruction, faculty can work collaboratively with students to develop the rubric, or integrate the rubric by distributing it as part of the assignment description and/or for students to use in peer- or self-assessment.

For instructions on creating and implementing a rubric, see Idea 10: Inquiry-based Learning (IBL) Rubric Development Guide, CIIA Innovative Teaching Showcase, 2016.

Articles & Resources

• Assessment Rubrics, from the University of Delaware Office of Educational Assessment
• Authentic Assessment Toolbox, created by Jon Mueller, North Central College, Illinois
• Create the Rubric
• Creating and Using Rubrics, University of Hawaii - what, why, how, examples, calibration, tips.
• Developing Rubrics, 16 minute video overview
• Rubrics: Definition, Tools, Examples, References, The Teaching, Learning, and Technology Group, includes types and uses of rubrics, steps for creating rubrics, samples, and references.
• Rubrics: Useful Assessment Tools, University of Waterloo - explains at the beginning why you might want to use a rubric.
• What is a rubric?, Plattsburgh University of New York - basic, clear, constructive overview.

Examples

• Comprehensive lists of rubrics:
• Disciplinary Examples, Authentic Assessment Toolbox
• iRubric Public Gallery, search large gallery of examples
• Rubric Bank, organized by type of learning, UH Mānoa
• Rubric Examples, UC Denver - math, writing, science, digital storytelling, etc.
• Rubric Samples by Department, Seattle University
• Blog:
• Evaluating Student Blogs, University of Wisconsin
• Papers, projects, presentations, class participation:
• Creating and Using Rubrics, Eberly Center, Carnegie Mellon
• Developing Grading Criteria, Vanderbilt University
• Papers and Presentations Example Rubrics, College of St. Scholastica
• Understanding Rubrics, Heidi Goodrich Andrade
• Discussion board:
• Discussion Rubrics, Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository
• Blended Learning , Simmons College
• Presentation, proposal, teamwork
• Tips on Grading: Using Rubrics, University of Delaware
• Critical thinking:
• Critical Thinking Rubric , Northeastern Illinois University, - General Education Critical Thinking Paper
• Critical Thinking Rubric for a Paper, Univ. of Rhode Island
• Critical Thinking VALUE Rubric, AAC&U
• First Draft of Critical Thinking Paper, University of Rhode Island - high-level, highly-detailed rubric for a critical thinking paper
• Quantitative Reasoning Scoring Rubric, Univ. of Rhode Island

Online Rubric Tools

• iRubric, made by Rcampus, create a free account to use rubrics creation tool with other advanced features
• RubiStar, free tool to helps to create quality rubrics from various assignment-based or discipline-oriented templates

Rubrics to Evaluate Courses

Note: These focus on online courses but the qualities generally transcend course format.

• Online Course Development Guide and Rubric - University of Southern Mississippi Learning Enhancement Center’s online resource for rubrics
• Online Course Rubric - Evaluates the effectiveness of instruction of online courses
• Rubric for Online Instruction - CSU Chico
• Quality Matters Rubric - set of standards used to evaluate the design on online and blended courses

Relevant Books

• Bresciani, M., Zelna, C.,& Anderson, J., Assessing Student Learning and Development: A Handbook for Practitioners, NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, 2004.
• Brookhart, S., How to Create and Use Rubrics for Formative Assessment and Grading, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2013.
• Goggins Selke, M., Rubric Assessment Goes to College: Objective, Comprehensive Evaluation of Student Work, R&L Education, 2013.
• Stevens, D. & Levi, A., Introduction to Rubrics: An Assessment Tool to Save Grading Time, Convey Effective Feedback, and Promote Student Learning, Stylus Publishing, LLC, 2005.

Mentioned relevant books may be available through the CIIA's Lending Library or Wilson Library.